PG Logo
  • Business Insider
  • Kotaku
  • Lifehacker
  • Openair Cinemas
  • Pedestrian.TV
  • Popsugar
Logo The News Of Tomorrow, Today
Subscribe
  • Reviews
    • Camera
    • Car
    • Entertainment
    • Gadgets & Smart Home
    • Gaming
    • Laptop & Tablet
    • PC & Peripheral
    • Smartphone
    • Smartwatch and Fitness Tracker
    • View All Reviews
  • Smart Home & Gadgets
  • Mobile
  • Cars
  • Online
  • Science & Health
  • Cameras
  • Computing
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment
  • Reviews
    • Camera
    • Car
    • Entertainment
    • Gadgets & Smart Home
    • Gaming
    • Laptop & Tablet
    • PC & Peripheral
    • Smartphone
    • Smartwatch and Fitness Tracker
    • View All Reviews
  • Smart Home & Gadgets
  • Mobile
  • Cars
  • Online
  • Science & Health
  • Cameras
  • Computing
  • Gaming
  • Entertainment

Want Gizmodo's email newsletter?

Follow us, subscribe and get in touch

  • Contact Gizmodo Australia
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • RSS

Recent Posts

Facebook Bans Creation of New Events Near Federal and State Houses Leading Up to Inauguration
Photo: Josh Edelson, Getty Images
Facebook Bans Creation of New Events Near Federal and State Houses...
Iranian Spying Campaign Sent Holiday Greetings Riddled with Malware
Santa Claus waves to the crowd during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Nov. 27, 2014 in New York City. (Photo: Andrew Burton, Getty Images)
Iranian Spying Campaign Sent Holiday Greetings Riddled with Malware
Apple Reportedly Planning to Redesign the iMac at Long Last
Last year's 27-inch iMac is the end of the line for this design. (Photo: Caitlin McGarry/Gizmodo)
Apple Reportedly Planning to Redesign the iMac at Long Last
Report: Google About to Face Its Third State Antitrust Suit, This Time Over Play Store
Photo: Paul Sakuma, AP
Report: Google About to Face Its Third State Antitrust Suit, This...
A Dungeons & Dragons TV Series in Development From the Creator of John Wick
The cover of the Dungeons & Dragons Essentials Kit. (Image: Wizards of the Coast)
A Dungeons & Dragons TV Series in Development From the Creator...

Deals

Amazon Is Running a Bunch of Deals on Chromebook Models Right Now
Image: iStock/Geber86

Amazon Is Running a Bunch of Deals on Chromebook Models Right Now

The Best Samsung Galaxy S21 Plans in Australia
The Best Samsung Galaxy S21 Plans in Australia
The Cheapest Way to Get a Samsung Galaxy S21 in Australia
The Cheapest Way to Get a Samsung Galaxy S21 in Australia
Bring Your Ceiling to Life With These 10 Galaxy Projectors
Bring Your Ceiling to Life With These 10 Galaxy Projectors
Every Samsung Galaxy S21 Plan in Australia
Every Samsung Galaxy S21 Plan in Australia

Sponsored Articles

Why Australia’s Metadata Retention Scheme Is Still Stupid

Share

Luke Hopewell

Published 6 years ago: April 23, 2015 at 3:15 pm -
Filed to:data retention
featureidiotsmetadataprivacy
Why Australia’s Metadata Retention Scheme Is Still Stupid

We’ve long said that the Government’s proposed metadata retention scheme is a stupid idea conceived by stupid people for stupid people. Now some of those stupid people inside the Western Australian Police are proving us exactly right: 112 police officers have been caught accessing the arrest record of sports star Ben Cousins out of “professional curiosity”, and the WA Police Commissioner has no problem with that.

If you’re not standing on your desk screaming right now, you should be.

After troubled AFL star Ben Cousins was arrested in Perth for failure to stop and failure to comply with a breath test, that data was filed into the WA Police computer systems.

A 29-year old policeman thought it might be a good idea to share the private information from the computerised arrest record with his girlfriend, who was a reporter for the Seven Network. He’s since been fired, but it’s what the Acting WA Police Commissioner, Steve Brown, said on radio about the incident that will really get your back up.

He said that the Cousins’ arrest record, and the arrest records of another AFL player, Daniel Kerr, were accessed over 300 times by around 112 different officers, most of whom had nothing to do with the case.

Here are his comments from 6PR Radio, first reported by WA Today:

“About half [of the officers accessing the records] are going to clearly be what has been described as professional curiosity and we agree with that. Those officers have absolutely nothing to fear.

The remaining half we are still working through to try and identify why they would have accessed that record. From where the investigation is currently at, those officers weren’t working at the time or weren’t working in close proximity. They had no need – 10 of them or thereabouts were working in regional Western Australia.”

Professional curiosity?! Those officers have nothing to fear?! Jesus wept.

If police officers can’t be expected not to take a peek at their own records out of “professional curiosity”, what’s to stop these same idiots trampling the privacy fence of metadata retention and looking up information on celebrities, sporting stars, ex-partners and others?

Nothing. There’s nothing there to stop them. But don’t worry, when police officers snoop on your info out of “curiosity” for where you were, who you were talking to or where you’re going, they won’t have to answer to a soul.

Metadata retention is stupid, and we’re stupid for letting it happen.

About the Author

Luke Hopewell

  • Posts
  • Email

Luke Hopewell | Gizmodo Editor






A self-professed gadget lover and nonsense talker geek, Luke Hopewell sits in the editor chair at Gizmodo Australia. He loves anything that switches on, does internet or goes fast. He picked up a Best New Aussie IT Journo Award in 2010 and if you stick around long enough, you’ll find Luke on your telly, too.

Share this Story
Get our Newsletter Subscribe
There are no more articles to be viewed

© 2007 - 2021 Pedestrian Group

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Haven't registered? Sign up here
Lost your password? Click here to reset

Back to Login? Click here

Email newsletters will contain a brief summary of our top stories, plus details of competitions and reader events.

Back to Login? Click here

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Now you can get the top stories from Gizmodo delivered to your inbox. Enter your email below.

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.